Debt
by the2ndpenguin
Summary: For the Kakairu Livejournal contest. In exchange for his favourite reading material he agrees to spend Christmas with Naruto and Iruka.
1. Chapter 1

Not mine.

Sometimes, Icha Icha Paradise was a cruel mistress, Kakashi mused. If it had not had so much power over him he would never have found himself in this predicament: in debt.

To _Naruto_.

The blonde brat, home briefly to celebrate Christmas, had offered him something he couldn't refuse and it had come with a hefty price tag. The latest, unreleased, Icha Icha novel, complete with the Author's signature, in exchange for spending Christmas dinner with Naruto and his beloved Iruka Sensei. It wasn't so much that he minded spending time with his former student, but the other man was completely insufferable. Bossy, loud, and incapable of understanding his place in the world, he had a dreadful temper coupled with an extremely annoying urge to mother his former students. Yes, thought Kakashi, gloomily, this was sure to be a night he would rather forget.

Bracing himself with thoughts of the Icha Icha girls, he knocked on the door to Iruka's apartment, armed with a bottle of sake.

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Later that night, after leaving Iruka Sensei's, he sat on his bed and reverentially lifted up the latest Icha Icha Paradise. With trembling fingers he smoothed open the page and began to read. The plot and character development could not be faulted. The sex scenes were as hot as ever. In no way had Jiraiya lost his edge. If anything, it was even better than the previous installments.

Why then did Kakashi, when he should have been completely entranced by the adventures of the sultry princess and her heroic beau, keep getting distracted by thoughts of bright brown eyes above a crinkled scar, strong shoulders, and a warm, kissable smile?

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

It was a somewhat rumpled and flustered Iruka that opened the door to Kakashi and gazed at him with some surprise.

The scarred chuunin looked him up and down before giving him a quizzical look.

"Ah, good evening Kakashi-sensei. Can I help you with something?"

Looking past Iruka, into the warm and chaotic room behind him, he saw Naruto, surrounded by other kids, grinning at him and narrowed his eyes. So that was how it was. Now, not only was he to spend the evening surrounded by _people_, but he was also to be Iruka's uninvited, and no doubt unwanted, dinner guest. That brat was going to pay, Icha Icha, or no Icha Icha.

His attention was drawn back to Iruka when the teacher scratched the scar on his nose awkwardly and said. "Ah…Kakashi-sensei, would you please join us? We were just about to have dinner. You'd be more than welcome." The man gave him a warm smile that made his scar crinkle and his entire face seem to light up. For a moment, Kakashi was left speechless. He recovered himself quickly though and nodded, smiling his one eyed-smile in thanks.

Toeing off his shoes and offering the bottle of sake, he entered the small apartment. And came up short, when he suddenly registered who the other guests were. They were all children. Many of them he didn't recognize but those he did know were all the orphans and misfits that any hidden village seemed to have a surplus supply of. He turned back to Iruka, feeling awkward and out of place again.

"Maa, I guess the sake was a little inappropriate for this crowd, ne, Iruka sensei?"

The chuunin laughed. "Not at all, Kakashi sensei! I was just thinking I needed some liquid relief from all these ankle-biters."

"Ankle-biters?!" Howled Naruto, accompanied by a flurry of denials from the other youngsters. "Sensei, I'm nearly taller than you! And soon I'll be the strongest ninja in the village!"

"Yes, Naruto." Iruka grinned, and ruffled the blonde boy's hair. "I have no doubt that someday soon you will surpass all of us. But, even when you are Hokage, the greatest and most respected ninja in the land… don't forget your old sensei knows enough stories from your youth to wither the toes of even the most subservient ninja." He smirked triumphantly. "And now, dinner's ready!" he added before Naruto could build up enough steam to issue a blistering reply.

At that announcement, chaos descended and it wasn't until the storm of children and teenagers fighting over food and places to sit had receded that Kakashi got his bearings again. He found himself sitting next to Iruka at a small table on the floor in a relatively quiet corner of the room. Iruka was pouring him a cup of sake while at the same time yelling at a couple of small boys that were attempting to pour fruit juice down the back of an even smaller girl's shirt, and putting out a minor fire with a neat little water jutsu. He turned back to Kakashi to find him blatantly staring at him as though he had never seen him before. He blushed and put down the sake bottle.

"Um, sorry about all the…" he gestured at the general noise and chaos surrounding them. "Naruto did say he had invited you but in all the excitement I must have forgotten, I'm sorry."

"Do you do this every year?" Kakashi asked, suddenly curious about this strange man.

"Um, more like every week or so." Iruka replied. "That is," he corrected himself, when he saw Kakashi's look of stunned disbelief, "not all at once, not like this. I often have a few of the kids over… But, _this_ is only once a year. It's often pretty disastrous, as you can see, but…Christmas is a time for family and …these kids, they have none."

"Except you, Sensei."

At that, Iruka blushed. "It's nothing really, I love the kids, most of the time, so it's not like it's some great sacrifice on my part."

"Still, rather you than me, Sensei." Said Kakashi, grinning, but the look of blatant admiration in his one visible eye was enough to make Iruka feel warm all over and blush an even darker red. He returned the grin with an even brighter one of his own and gestured to the food in front of them.

"We should probably eat this before the ravenous hoards get to it." He said.

"Not so." Said Kakashi, and gestured to his suddenly empty bowl with a smug grin. The look of shock on Iruka's face was priceless and Kakashi found himself hoping there would be other opportunities for him to provoke such wonderful reactions.

Perhaps he wouldn't make Naruto suffer for this after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay…. So this is rather late. But never mind! With some luck there will be another chapter forthcoming at some point. Anyway, please enjoy and remember it doesn't belong to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto, in case anyone was confused on that point. (^_^)

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It seemed to Kakashi that everywhere he looked he saw the influence of Umino Iruka.

A few weeks ago this hadn't been the case; Kakashi had lived in a comfortable world where Iruka was filed away as a rather annoyingly opinionated and loud, but ultimately harmless and insignificant man. Now, thanks to an interesting evening in the man's company, he was being plagued with thoughts of the scarred chuunin that had forced him to investigate the suddenly remarkable man further. And once he started looking it was as though he couldn't stop.

At the present moment he was sitting concealed in a large, sturdy oak tree watching a group of children loitering outside the academy. This in itself would usually be no cause for interest but the fact that it was now the summer holidays (and as such no self-respecting student would usually be seen dead in the vicinity) had captured Kakashi's attention. He recognised most of them as guests from Iruka's Christmas party. Most of them were very young, maybe eight or nine, and they were obviously getting impatient although they hadn't been waiting long. They were squabbling among themselves, a couple of girls getting ready to pick a fight and a few boys obviously planning some mischief, if the exploding tags they were chuckling over were anything to go by.

It came as no surprise to Kakashi when Iruka arrived a few minutes later to a chorus of overly innocent greetings and a panicked scramble to hide the contraband. What did surprise him was the presence of two other ninjas that he wouldn't have expected Iruka to even have known. One, a tall, stern looking woman that he knew from his ANBU days as a deadly and elite warrior, was not the type to associate with low ranking teachers and their charges, at least in Kakashi's experience.

The other, a darkly intense man of middling years, he knew only by sight as one of Ibiki's most trusted and loyal captains but he would not have expected to find the man in Iruka's company either. Although it was certainly true that they both hopelessly outranked the teacher, this wasn't the reason that Kakashi was surprised to see them with him. He may have only started taking Iruka into consideration recently, but he already knew that bright, warm-hearted Iruka-sensei was more likely to earn scorn and disgust from such companions than respect or friendship. But here they were and, Kakashi reminded himself, he was now here to observe, rather than judge, so he made himself look more closely. Ah, there it was. He could see it now: a dark fragility in their eyes. A look he had seen in both himself and many others over the years, when loss and pain had become a crippling source of despair.

The two fearsome Jounin were hanging back warily, looking with some consternation at the group of children that Iruka was even now warmly greeting, ruffling hair, making enquiries, and scolding by turns. The children seemed to drink in the attention like plants photosynthesising briskly on a sunlit day and there were many cries for attention as a gabble of news was exchanged at a breakneck pace. Iruka took it all in with a broad smile for them all and it was a few minutes before he turned back to his adult companions.

"Kids, I'd like you to meet two of Konoha's finest ninja." He said, gesturing to the two behind him, "This is Hitomi-san and Sumino-san. They're going to help you train today while I'm busy!"

"But Sensei, we were supposed to go swimming today!!!"

Ignoring this outburst and the looks of stark horror and indignation on the faces of both parties, his grin widened, baring his teeth. He continued blithely.

"Hitomi-san, Sumino-san, these are the people I told you about. I promise you, you will find this a very…educational experience. Good luck, I'm sure you'll get along splendidly and then tonight I'll treat you all to dinner if you've worked hard." This statement seemed to encompass the adults as well as the children.

Iruka seemed happily oblivious to the high tension emanating from both his students and two adult companions. Kakashi almost wanted to warn him that two highly strung and extremely deadly warriors were about to snap and that he would be their prime target but his curiosity stopped him; he wanted to see how Iruka handled the situation. He had misjudged and underestimated the man before: he was not about to make the same mistake twice. Also, if all the information he had gathered over the last few weeks was anything to go by, this was sure to end in a far more unusual and interesting way than the bloody murder and messy disembowelment of one of Konoha's most enterprising teachers.

He was not disappointed. As he watched, Iruka continued speaking as though neither the students or Jounin were getting ready to protest loudly and violently.

"Now kids, I want you to pay close attention to your two new teachers. They are both Jounin of high renown and courage, they have been fighting and defending this village since before you were born. You may not have met them before but their efforts have kept you safe and as such your lives are indelibly linked. They can teach you things that I can't, things that may help keep you alive in the years to come. Do you want to be skilful ninjas or not? This is a great chance for you to learn from the masters!"

As he spoke Iruka had settled into a lecturing stance, hands on hips, his voice filled with enthusiasm and warmth. Whether he meant it to or not (and Kakashi, even after weeks of observation, wasn't entirely sure), something in his words or his tone had struck a note with the Jounin for something about them had loosened; their eyes were still haunted but a little warmth had crept into them.

The children had started to become more enthusiastic about the idea after all the talk of new skills with which they could no doubt wreck havoc but they did have one more complaint to make:

"But _Sensei" _One little girl whined, "You promised we could go swimming today."

"I hadn't forgotten, Miyuki-chan, I was hoping Sumino-sensei and Hitomi-sensei would taking you training near the lake, perhaps teach you some water jutsu. Would that be ok, Jounin-sama?" He turned to the two Jounin with an enquiring look.

He had done it. That look, the one that said: _but _surely _this is what you intended all along. I knew how kind and dutiful you were. You won't disappoint me now, will you?_

They both nodded slowly.

Minutes later, the new teachers were led off dazedly by their young charges, presumably to the river, with a cloud of excited discussion from the children about the many exciting, deadly, and gruesome skills their illustrious new tutors were undoubtedly going to teach them. Kakashi watched Iruka watch them go, and rather liked the mischievous smirk that played on the teacher's face.

As he watched Iruka turn and walk off in the opposite direction to the others, ponytail bouncing cheerfully with each purposeful stride, he found his heart warm in a most embarrassing way at the thought that there was a man like him in the world. He briefly considered following the mismatched group that Iruka had so neatly dispatched but by this point in his investigation he thought he could guess what would happen there:

If Kakashi were a betting man, he would have staked money on both the lonely children and the two haunted Jounin, without even realising it, easing each others' loneliness and pain, simply by spending a day teaching and being taught. Perhaps the children would remind the jounin of what it was they were fighting for while the jounin in turn, might show the orphans that they were important and cared for. Perhaps the new bonds that were formed in a day of wet and muddy practice and pranks would sow the seeds of a relationship that would continue to flourish and bloom and, perhaps, make the lives of all concerned a little warmer and easier…all because one nondescript, mediocre, cheerful, kind man happened to suggest they train together…

The more he observed and analysed, the more certain Kakashi was that Iruka-sensei, with his kind concern, overbearing compassion, and subtle insight, was the unseen and unnoticed force behind the happiness and mental stability of a large number of the village populace.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Kakashi's overworked brain and rich imagination were drawing intriguing conclusions where there were none to be drawn, but long experience (the keyword being 'long' - not a word often used when describing the shinobi lifestyle) told him that his instincts were right about this one: Iruka-sensei was far more than he appeared. And Kakashi wanted to know more.


End file.
